Patent US-1869-89582
This non-aero patent was relevant in the story told by Artur Neves at the NMAH seminar of 2024-Jan-30, working with Friedel. Some substantial number of billiard balls, he showed, were made of the material discussed in this patent. Earlier billiard balls were often made of ivory, but they would then be different from one another -- inconsistent. Top players would want a predictable standard ball, made of artificial stuff. It might have composition: 76% bone dust, 20% cellulose nitrate, and 3.8% camphor. He studied it with high powered chemistry tools
The patent says: "Natural ivory contains many imperfections . . . rendering it liable to shring, warp, and check, while ivory manufactured by the above-described process is . . . fine and uniform . . . strong . . . without blemishes, and susceptibule of a high polish." They make "collodion" by mixing "gun-cotton" with alcohol and ether, and add ivory dust.
Similarly: artificial materials replaced the ivory in piano keys, a subject Friedel is researching. They can be visually indistinguishable. Thousands of elephants a year were killed for their ivory back then, and a conservation concern detectable by the 1950s. The discovery of "cellulose nitrate" was helpful to create an alternative.
- Friedel says it's clear many of these patents do not reflect what was actually done in the real world ; that is, the patented text does not describe what was made; what is described was not made.
- These are "dynamics of material substitution" -- Bakelite, biological apatite, collodion
- eventually plastics and "composite materials" replace almost everything ; see MOPRA, the plastics metamorphoses.
- Celluloid was the material for ping pong balls for a very long time ; no artificial substitute was good enough until recently.
- Portuguese FCT is analogous to the US NSF.
- Inventor location: Hyatt from Albany, NY, and Blake from Spencertown, NY, US
- Tech classes:
- CPC D01F4/00 Monocomponent artificial filaments or the like of proteins; Manufacture thereof
- CPC C08B1/00 Preparatory treatment of cellulose for making derivatives thereof, e.g. pre-treatment, pre-soaking, activation
Sources
- Patent 89582 document and bibliographic info on espacenet
- Patent 89582 at google patents
| Year filed | 1869 |
|---|---|
| Year granted | 1869 |
| Office | US |
| Patent number | 89582 |
| Inventors | John W. Hyatt, David Blake |
| Inventor country | US, US |
| Inventor location | |
| Applicant person | John W. Hyatt, Jr., David Blake |
| Applicant firm | |
| Applicant type | INDIV |
| Applicant is inventor? | 1 |
| Original title | Improved compound of ivory-dust and other materials |
| English title | Improved compound of ivory-dust and other materials |
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| Filing date | |
| Full specification filed date | |
| Application number | |
| Grant date | 1869-05-04 |
| Granted? | 1 |
| Publication date | |
| Supplementary to patent | |
| Related to aircraft? | 1 |
| Serial number | |
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| Family year | 1869 |
| First filing? | 1 |
| Cites these patents | |
| Citations from after 1930 | 0 |
| Application ID | |
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| Number of text pages | 1 |
| Number of diagram pages | 0 |
| Number of figures | 0 |
| Number of claims | 2 |
